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As the terror alert has gone up a seperat thread is in order.
Tony Abbott announces Australian terror threat raised from ‘medium’ to ‘high’
Australia's terror threat level has been raised from medium to high, meaning a terror attack on home soil is now officially considered "likely".
The nation's outgoing spy chief ASIO Director General David Irvine says an attack could manifest itself in a "Bali-style attack, although Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday that the agencies had not detected any "particular plots".
Mr Abbott expressed confidence that the authorities are "smarter than terrorists and would be terrorists," and would remain "one step ahead" of their malice.
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Mr Abbott made the much anticipated announcement at a media conference with the Attorney-General George Brandis and Mr Irvine four days after the ASIO chief flagged the escalation.
Mr Abbott stressed that raising the terror threat level did not mean a terror attack was "imminent" but said it meant there are people in Australia with the "intent and capability" to carry out at terror attack.
He said it would "not make any difference to daily life" for the vast majority of Australians but it would mean "more security" at airports, ports, military bases, public buildings and large public events, including the upcoming AFL Grand Finals. But he said football fans should not be deterred from attending the games
Normal life in Australia can and must go on," he said. "We want people to go about their normal lives and we certainly want to people to enjoy the football if their teams are lucky enough to be in the grand final," he said.
Acting Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said sports fans "fortunate enough" to have tickets to the grand final should still attend as police have "well worked" plans for securing major matches.
PM Tony Abbott watches as ASIO chief David Irvine explains the increase in terror threat level. Photo: Luis Ascui
"You may expect to see heightened police presence but it won't be intrusive, I'm sure," he said.
Mr Abbott also said a "modest information campaign" would begin within weeks.
Mr Irvine said the events in the Middle East over recent months had activated people at home who support the extremism propagated by ISIL militants in Iraq and Syria.
He said 60 to 70 Australians were among the 10,000 foreign fighters fighting alongside the terrorists in Iraq and Syria and some had returned home.
@lightningdance wrote:I can't believe the replies from the left on here. Here we have many saying that this is all a beat up, nothing to worry about, drum beating at it's worst.
I wonder if they will show themselves if or when an attachk happens again? you know, he foiled terrorist attack on our military base? was that a figment of imagination too? was that drum beating?
What I see is a partisan head in the sand attitude, an attitude that the left take on EVERYTHING a Conservative government does.
No wonder these boards have fallen into ennui and mind numbing "kudo Klubbing: the same rants and ideas we are subjected to from the left and the screaming ranting madness of Shorten.
I would be more trusting of the government’s raising of the level if we had indeed been told that they had evidence. But Abbott himself has said that “there was no specific intelligence that a terror attack was imminent, and no information about particular plots”. At the same time we are told to go about our normal lives.
So the question is why have we had our threat level raised? If he truly believes that we are in danger, then why is it only public events being targetted for security. Surely we should be on lockdown for entry into all buildings, all gatherings be they private or not, shouldn’t he stop riding his bike, all trains be searched etc. The possibilities to carry out an attack are endless so there is absolutely no reason to raise the alert if he has no evidence. If an attack does happen, and it could, unless the whole country is under siege, there is absolutely no way to prevent it. I’m simply trying to point out the obvious and it matters not who I vote for.
There is no reason to raise the alert unless he can control the whole country and the people and the only reason to do so is to raise the fear level. It is a ploy to raise his profile by scaring the population into believing he is going to protect us.
